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Project Triangle Strategy: Octopath Tactics

The music struck me as a little old-fashioned. At its best, like a soundtrack of a classic Hollywood epic. At its worst, cheesy 70's anime music. But overall, I liked it. It suited the game very well.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
Some of it felt a little funny but the best tracks are generally good enough to carry the OST in general. And as you note, it suits the game, which is something of a throwback already.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I just saw it pointed out that Benedict Pascal is named after the mathematician Pascal. Of Pascal's Triangle. He's the triangle strategist! A+ naming pun.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
Chiefly the Morality/Utility/Liberty triumvirate, the main trio of paths through the game, and the way the major powers are arranged in a triangle on the map.

It's about as deep a connection as Octopath Traveler being about eight characters. They just seem to like number-based titles at that studio.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
Does it seem like some characters are intended for the second playthrough? Medina seemed really weak the first time, since items were scarce and expensive until near the end. I've been using her on the second playthrough, though, just for variety vs. Geela, and she's pretty good, esp. with TP Physick. I didn't use Lionel much either, and still haven't outside of mock battles, but being able to infuriate a key spellcaster at range could come in handy on some maps for sure.

I also didn't get any of the max-conviction characters the first time, so I've been playing around with Decimal and Quahaug (don't have the last one yet).
 

Kalir

Do you require aid.
(whatevs)
The itemancers (Medina and Piccoletta) are definitely hard to fold into a first run but not impossible. It helps that Medina has great base stats and Piccoletta has her clone (or blue magic if you got her weapon skill).

Lionel... I just think his moveset is completely at odds with his stat set. His passives on collecting spoils don't work when he has such low speed and no mobility techniques, getting a damage boost on status effects doesn't help his extremely poor base damage, and the skills he has that are good are situational, expensive, or both. Probably my pick for overall weakest unit in the game, although he's not unusable without investment.

Decimal has some of the best range in the game and is perfectly fine parking right in the middle of the map and bullying every enemy intermittently, but their odd targeting and lack of innate TP regen means they're going to have even more downtime than any other mage in the game. Still a solid unit, and more survivable than other casters.

Quahaug is a mage with no direct damage or healing spells, and also they're god tier. Literally the best unit in the game and it's not even close.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I like how you can put the, whatsit. The item that boosts stats but you can't recharge TP? On Decimal, to no downside. A tricky unit to use but fun as like, long-range artillery.
 
Medina is considered S Tier at high levels. I gather by TP Physic + Ranged Healing items with “+” shaped AoE. If your units are grouped up, she can restore 5 units’ HP and TP all at once. Will be expensive, though.
 

Kalir

Do you require aid.
(whatevs)
I didn't play with voice acting on, but I did turn it on for a bit to hear a few characters, and I appreciate that Lionel is just deadass doing a Morshu impersonation.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I've enjoyed the voice acting for the most part; it's several steps better than most of Octopath Traveler's. Benedict is a standout.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Quahaug is a mage with no direct damage or healing spells, and also they're god tier. Literally the best unit in the game and it's not even close.

I never figured this character out. Just didn't have the patience for planning I guess?

I like how you can put the, whatsit. The item that boosts stats but you can't recharge TP? On Decimal, to no downside. A tricky unit to use but fun as like, long-range artillery.
Yeah this was awesome. Also great for cleanup of units that I just couldn't quite finish off.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I've only used Quahaug a couple times so far, but he's very handy for, say, taking a character who's on the verge of death and just rewinding them to when they weren't.
 

Kalir

Do you require aid.
(whatevs)
Good ways to use this secret character everyone is excited about:

First off, yeah, you can Turn Back Time to heal characters fairly easily, or to undo healing on enemy units. It can also refresh buffs that are short-lived but which you really want active (like, say, invincibility).

Quahaug's usual thing they'll be doing, if not that, is repositioning units with Warped Space, or occasionally Distorted Space if you want to mess with enemy units. This synergizes with low-mobility units that want superior positioning like Rudolph or Archibald, allows you to corral AI teammates that might not be behaving how you want them to, or to entrap enemy units in the middle of your formation to be maximally bullied.

The closest thing you have to a direct attack is the Delayed Damage whatever, which is good because it scales to the max HP of the target. This means it's unlikely to secure a kill, but it CAN burn through even the highest-defense boss units pretty cleanly. Not usually the best use of your time, but hey, it's nice sometimes.

Stop Time is, to be honest, kind of a niche skill. Since people's turns are still beholden to their speed stat, this one will reward teams full of fast units, but it's still not usually the best use of Quahaug's TP. However, it is possible to, via absurd turn manipulation shenanigans from In Tandem and status "curing" with Turn Back Time, achieve such cheese as "guaranteed accuracy Rite of Thunderstorms".

Finally, his weapon skill, Rewind Space-Time, will undo everything that has happened since his last turn EXCEPT for units dying. What this means for you is that if you're saving Quahaug's TP, you can have everyone else spend all their sauce on their strongest kill moves, wipe out half the enemy forces no matter the cost, and then go "okay but what if that was free".

Quahaug is not a straightforward unit, but that's okay because that is a lot of cheating you can do.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
For the sake of getting Travis I decided to make my second playthrough the one and only time I will hand over the Roselle to Hyzante. Feels bad! The narrative kinda bends over backward between the group vote and Telliore's involvement to make the worst of the things that happen not your fault, which I'm not really sure how I feel about. Tries to let Serenoa off the hook for sure, but you are still being an asshole.
 

Kalir

Do you require aid.
(whatevs)
I posted about that one earlier in the thread, but for my part I really enjoyed the fact that the Roselle themselves adamantly oppose you and rightfully claim that you're being a self-preserving douchebag about it. The only reason they actually go along with the plan at all is because Silvio alerts Hyzante that you're not 100% down with subjugating the Roselle, and as the other route shows, You Will Die if you have to fight Hyzante there.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
Second path down (Benedict's). I like how each ending accomplishes the purported goal, but in a monkey's-paw fashion. I know the gist of the other two endings and the golden path route looks like it's striking a balance among all goals.
 

Kalir

Do you require aid.
(whatevs)
It's definitely to this game's credit that none of the convictions is really "wrong", just different value judgments for each player. Additionally, it's great that the three major spokespeople for each conviction (Frederica, Benedict, and Roland) not only make choices and evolve away from their primary convictions, but that they don't go drastically off the rails with their final choices, nor do they really throw their lives away to oppose the people they considered their friends. Yeah, they can't follow down the path the Scales set down, but they still do their best to accomplish their own goals separate from House Wolffort, and even supply some aid on their way out once they get over the original split.

They really just stole SMT's lunch and partner and walked away laughing, huh.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
There is a pretty clear implication in the Benedict ending that Roland and Idore are going to raise a rebellion in the future.

Was thinking about it, and while Benedict's path is narratively interesting, I found the endgame battles a bit lacking. Fighting cavalry on a mostly flat map just wasn't super interesting! I liked the final fight against the Hierophant pretty well at least (its weird speech was creepy, as were the Roselle-haired puppets it controlled). The running escort battle across the bridge under the waterfall in Frederica's final stage was really interesting and tactically complex in a way that the Hierophant fight was not, though.
 
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Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I know the game tries to present all its primary paths as equally worthy, but Roland's really just sucks. He's a weak-willed asshat, which I guess is the point, but this path really does not feel good to take. Doing it for completion's sake but wouldn't play through that again. Plus I had to murder Sycras! The battles are more interesting so far, at least.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Oh yeah, I nope'd out of that path and had no issues. Sending the Roselle back (which I know isn't required for his path) was already something I couldn't handle even for completion's sake but I had no interest in siding with the creepy racist cult on top of that.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I saved it for my third run, before doing the golden path. I wanted to see how the battles vs. Aesfrost would play out since the scenario design in the game has been mostly top-notch, but I won't need to replay this route.

They make some attempt to soften it with Serenoa and Roland vowing to change the Saintly Seven from within since they're both in it in this route, but we all know how changing entrenched power structures from within tends to work out.
 

ThornGhost

lofi posts to relax/study to
(he/him)
Finally finished my first playthrough and went the Benedict path because it felt to me like the most reasonable path for the characters to take based on the story so far. Both other choices seemed either wildly reckless or incredibly misguided in comparison. I tried my best to not use guides or spoilers and go with my gut.

Gonna let it breathe a bit before I start NG+. This game really rules you guys. Like GOTY level rules. If you're on the fence, get off it and play.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
The subsequent paths go a lot quicker if you skip scenes you've scene before that don't differ from the previous route.

And yeah, GOTY material for sure. I'm really glad I stuck with it until it clicked. Still get drowsy during the plot parts if I play too late, though!
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
OK, I'm not a good way into the Golden Path playthrough on Hard. Just fought off Avlora at Wolffort (one of my first-playthrough sticky spots) in one go, and only lost, I think, Narve and Quahaug. I know some people like Cordelia as a healer, but Geela's cheap basic heal spell and her Life 3 deal keep making her my No. 1 healer pick.

Anyway it went very well. I put Hughette up high, and used Quahaug to teleport Archibald onto another roof, and played defensively to wear down the incoming troops. AOE attacks from Maxwell and Narve did a lot of damage to groups I was able to bottleneck with Erador's King's Shield, and Benedict's Dragon Shield was crucial (one of the best skills in the game, honestly, especially on hard, where you can only take a few hits so tanking one completely is very good). I put Ezana on another roof and had her use Rite of Tempests to boost Archibald, and to zap reinforcements to paralyze them as they warped in. Quahaug was very useful both for positioning ranged units and for trading places with Avlora so she could be easily surrounded (I used Missed Opportunity in conjunction with that). Everyone did a lot of work. Fun scenario, and entertaining to figure out how to beat on hard without using the fire traps!

Avlora was all like "You're doomed" and I was all like "Realize the gulf between our skills!"
 
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Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
I finally just started this game, and I'm liking it so far though I'm still in the opening several hours of pure story section after the intro battle. I've made...three or four decisions so far, and I'm kind of amused that calling my bride-to-be beautiful reflects my deep personal convictions somehow. It was also kind of hilarious to me that after an hour+ of pure story sections it unlocked the Smithy in my camp. Like, dude, I didn't do anything. Note, these aren't complaints, I'm very much enjoying the game and just find the things amusing.

Also, I'm really enjoying the localization, enough that I might even switch the voices back to English from Japanese. The JP script is honestly kind of boring.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I'd recommend English VA, Benedict in particular has a lot of good lines and he does a lot of the talking.

One fun thing is in NG+ you see how much your decisions actually add to your convictions. First time through you get the same little thing every time it happens, no matter how minor, and then second time you're like "oh that's only like three points."
 
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